1.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting arrangement for electrically connecting detachable peripheral components to a computer, and more particularly to a personal computer memory card international association connector assembly having a protection cover for limiting placement of a personal computer memory card international association card during insertion into the electrical contacts of the connector.
2. Description of Background Art
The computer industry continually attempts to miniaturize the functional elements of portable computers to make carrying more convenient. One currently popular approach to reducing the size and weight of a portable computer is to provide a connection port within the computer case for detachably receiving peripheral components constructed from integrated circuits within a housing approximating the length and width of a credit card.
In accordance with the current trend, the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) has established new standards for extended memory cards, MODEM (modulator and demodulator) cards, LAN (local area network) interface cards and HDD (hard disk drive) cards. According to one aspect of the new standards, each kind of personal computer memory card international association card must be adapted for use with a standardized card interface controller for driving the card after it has been detachably connected to the portable computer or similar device through a personal computer memory card international association connector. When a user operates the computer after inserting a personal computer memory card international association card into the connector, the card interface controller automatically detects the kind of personal computer memory card international association card and operates the card according to its intended function.
Due to differences in the volume required by the electrical and mechanical components which occupy different types of cards, personal computer memory card international association cards are currently classified according to their overall exterior heights, designated in order of increasing thickness as either type 1, type 2 or type 3. In order to support each type of personal computer memory card international association card with a single universal personal computer memory card international association connector, a port forming an opening in the computer case to access the personal computer memory card international association connector must have a height that is at least as great as that of the thickest personal computer memory card international association card. I have discovered that a problem exists with conventional personal computer memory card international association connectors that are able to accommodate a type 3 card, because thinner personal computer memory card international association cards of type 1 or 2 may be easily incorrectly inserted into the opening in the computer case in a position vertically above the connector. Consequently, incorrectly inserted personal computer memory card international association cards fail to make proper electrical contact with the pin array of the card interface controller for operating the card, and the computer case may need to be disassembled in order to remove a wrongly inserted card of type 1 or 2. Efforts such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,089 for a Connector Device Having Two Storage Decks and Three Contact Arrays For One Hard Disk Drive Package Or Two Memory Cards to N. H. Lwee, U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,204 for a Connector Device to N. H. Lwee, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,216 for IC Card Expansion Slot Assembly to I. Tsai, provide dedicated tracks for a pair of type 1 cards, and while these designs may be able to alternatively accommodate a single type 2 card, they can not accommodate a type 3 card. In essence, these designs depend upon a housing having opposite side walls and upper and lower housing plates that rigidly define the orifice through which their connector devices may receive a memory card. Accordingly, the orifice is unalterably fixed in width and height. I have also observed that these designs consequently facilitate inadvertent upside down admission of a memory card serving as a substrate beating a hard disk drive package. In addition, I have found that the surface of personal computer memory card international association cards are often covered with a conducting material such as metal, capable of causing a short-circuit among electrical components within the computer case.